Maxine Wood, 90

December 8, 2010

Maxine Z. (Cooley) Wood, a former resident of Aracadia, died of natural causes Nov. 22, 2010, at Immanual Lutheran Home in Kalispell, Mont.
Maxine was born in Merna Nov. 15, 1920, the first of four children of Rex and Marie (Allison) Cooley. She attended several country schools around Custer County, graduating from Westerville High School in 1939. She also attended Kearney State Teacherâ€™s College.
She married Dean O. Wood March 20, 1942. They were married for more than 60 years. After spending two years in Arizona, when Dean was in the Army Air Corp, they returned to Nebraska. The next 15 years were spent farming west of Arcadia.
Maxine was involved in the Rebekah Lodge and was a member of the Congregational Church. She loved her high heals. She and Dean loved attending dances with neighbors and friends.
In 1957, the family moved to Great Falls, Mont., where they spent the next 44 years. Maxine worked for Safeway for 30 years. Theirs was a loving household, where their childrenâ€™s friends always found acceptance and uncoditional love.
Maxine and Dean moved to the Flathead Valley in 2001, to be near family, at which time Dean entered the Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls. Maxine has resided at the Immanuel Lutheran Home since August 2009.
Maxine was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Dean; her parents; granddaugther, Dena Raye Bowers; brother, Dale; and sister-in-law, Bonnie Cooley.
She is survived by her daughters, Janet (Ron) Musto of Spokane Valley, Wash., and Debbie (Dennis) Walton of Kalispell, Mont.; three grandchildren, Angie Musto, Laura Musto (Randy Mroczynski) and Dustin Bowers; great-grandchildren, Cydnee and Baillee Bowers, and Rowan and Colin Mroczynski; her much loved siblings, Ivan (Beatrice) Cooley of Broken Bow, and LaVina (Edmund) Swanek of Council Bluffs, Iowa.